Heavenly Shae

Chapter 12: "Substantial Style."

Shae had almost nothing to say for the next quarter hour as she gawked at the robes and dresses in the shop. Each of the display pieces they wandered by was its own unique work of art. By comparison, the displays that were in the front windows seemed less impressive than those inside.

Unlike what she expected from a retail clothing store, this building was set up like an art gallery, and the girl could find no fault in that choice. Each piece was on a mannequin and given plenty of space around it for observers to orbit and appreciate the colors, fold of cloth, and style. Several included qi-powered spotlights to simulate daytime conditions.

The first words she managed were a whisper, "Yun, these are amazing!" She turned to find another woman walking alongside Yun.

"I'm glad to see the girl isn't without taste. Even if her choice of traveling clothes leaves something to be desired." The woman was definitely older than Yun. Gray streaks started at her temples and stylishly blended into her dark red hair to be tied up into a tall bun. Shae could tell she worked here, as her own clothing was as glamorous as the display pieces.

"Oh, hello! I'm Miss Zhi Shae. Apologies for ignoring you." She bowed to the woman, both as an apology and to show respect.

"Considering you were appreciating my work, I'll forgive it. Though, only Miss?"

Yun filled in, "Wise Shae is a new cultivator, and has yet to embrace her customary titles. Shae, this is Heavenly Fairy Silken Sashes."

"Please, please. Call me Jani, that name is so restrictive." She said with a dismissive hand wave that was entirely wrist. "Yet you have titles, plural? Rare for one so young, or did Fairy Yun misspeak?"

"She did not, Heavenly Jani. It seems we share that title, though I doubt it's for the same reason. Though I prefer Wise Shae, if you need to be formal."

The woman raised an eyebrow slightly then stepped close to the girl and swept qi over her. A frown later and she pulled back slightly, "Hmm, no I don't see it. Very unlikely, little Wise one." She suddenly seemed in a less pleasant mood. "Well, Fairy Yun, you didn't just come to browse, did you?"

Shae barely felt the woman's qi and didn't have time to get a sense of it. She hadn't even noticed any pressure or presence from the woman. Not exactly my specialty anyhow. Looking over to Yun, the woman was now a little pale. Uh, hope I didn't mis-step.

"Just a simple formal rental, Fairy Jani." She bowed.

"Simple! You've come to the wrong place for simple." The woman applied a bit of qi pressure to them both, and Shae picked up on some killing intent directed at Yun.

Yun dropped into a kowtow immediately, but stayed silent.

Shae felt a tingle of qi and the word 'quiet' in Yun's voice rang in her ear. She stayed silent and still. Do I bow too?

The woman made a move before Shae decided, "Come, little Heavenly scrap. We will start while Fairy Yun finds an acceptable apology from her employer." She walked off and the girl took the hint to quickly follow.

'Fair warning.' silently came from Yun.

She rounded a corner and had to step quickly to catch Jani entering the next room. Her mind caught in trying to puzzle out Yun's silent words.

Her rushing led her to abruptly halt at the center of a fully equipped seamstress and tailoring room. A raised platform in the center was surrounded by mirrors. Shae had to stop herself on the platform or trip off it and into the organized clutter at the sides of the room. Her attention was drawn to all the stuff and then another mannequin with a dress on it in the corner.

"Eep!" For the second time that day, Shae yelped as her clothing was removed with a qi technique. She did manage to keep her yell a lot quieter this time. That was not fair warning Yun!

As she forced herself to relax after the surprise, she saw her new travel robes land on a side table, neatly folded. She felt slightly better that all her underclothes were still on. She snapped her jaw shut.

"What?" Jani demand. "Say it."

She cleared her throat, trying to think of something else. "I was just thinking, that technique... It must be awkward to learn."

The woman gave her a flat stare through one of the mirrors as she collected some cloth. "No you weren't. You came here for clothes, you should have expected something like that technique. It had to happen eventually, and I'm a very busy woman."

Decent point, still, some fucking warning, please! She breathed slowly and kept her thoughts to herself.

Jani turned and flicked the piece of cloth wide around Shae's shoulders. It draped her like a cloak or cape would. She felt the older woman's gaze sweep over her with an intensity she hadn't expected, like the woman had never really looked at her before and was now looking for each and every flaw. It wasn't a qi technique, just a professional crafter appraising their working material with a critical eye.

Shae shuddered slightly and the cape began to slip. She didn't want to move under the woman's fierce glare but couldn't resist the involuntary twitches caused by nervousness.

Shae moved too late and missed grabbing the cloth as it fell off her.

"Now this is interesting." The woman pronounced.

"Um?" She blushed.

The older woman circled the girl and prodded a few places, shifting the edges of her underclothes slightly.

"Ma'am?" She yelped after the fifth such prod.

A hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed. "You'll have to excuse this, you are here for a fitting. Yet, I was rather taken by your coloration. It is a rare sight to see such a case, and one that is much more than just blotches and scars."

Shae looked up into the mirrors, seeing herself properly in the well lit room. She had seen herself at the other seamstress, but hadn't really looked, especially not without full robes. She had redressed in the new robes almost immediately.

Her right arm and leg were a stark white, while her left pair was a dark tan. Between, though mainly at her right shoulder, webs of jagged white spread out. It was very striking, she had to admit.

"You, um, like it?"

"Like it's a very strong word. Well it's not, but for my work it is. I've seen countless jade beauties walk though here. A few bronze goddesses as well. But this is new. And new is good."

"Really?" Was the girl's first thought. "No one has ever messed up their cleansing before?"

"Is that what that is?" She leaned in and Shae felt her qi again. A smooth and soft touch that felt like it should be harmless. "I think most wouldn't dare appear before me with a failed cleansing. Oh, it is not a bad thing, dear. Just that high class people would be ashamed of it because they are shamed by anything that is seen as lesser, or any mistake."

"Hard for me to feel this was a mistake when I didn't really have control of it. I suppose stopping it was the mistake."

The woman smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder again. "Well, Heavenly Shae. It seems we do have something in common."

Her eyes went wide and her mouth flapped open, ready for word.

"But! That is not lightly spoken of. This canvas, though. Nice work on the tan, and the color in the eyes helps too."

"Ah.. uh... It's just my heritage. I'm from the East, and both are very common there."

"Oh? I thought gold was a South-West trait?"

"Huh?" The girl scrunched her face, "gold?"

"Have you never seen them?" She pointed at the mirror.

Shae stepped towards the mirror beside the door, avoiding the step off the platform. Which she saw was more of a dropped floor than a raised platform. The platform had a small walkway to the door, removing the need for the customer to take a step up to reach it.

She leaned in and stared at her eyes, flecks of gold brightened her once brown irises. "Huh, that's new." She shifted her head around, then pulled and poked her eyelids just to see if anything happened.

"Any other accessories?" The woman asked, now standing by the girl's clothes, inspecting her peace-bound sword.

"Umm, I have a few hairpins. Though they are supposedly acupuncture tools, and I can bend them into rings." She pulled one out of her hair to display it.

"Spiritual tools too? Well, you are full of surprises. How many?"

"Only three."

She looked at the pin and frowned. "A bit rustic, and your hair doesn't really need them. Any piercings?"

"Uh, no?"

"Do you want some?"

"Eh?"

She smirked at the girl. "If you can bend them, you could make hoop earrings, they would work well with your skin tone and eyes."

"Oh. Hmm." Shae stretched the one she had been using as a ring into a larger loop and held it up to one ear to check the mirror. "Oh! I do like that."

"Good, so silver and gold accents, and something that shows off your dynamic skin."

"Dynamic? It's not actively changing, and this is a formal event, is showing a lot of skin customary for one as young as I?"

Jani huffed and shook her head. "Right, children. In any case, I believe I can get started on something now."

Shae inhaled in surprise then smiled wide, "You're going to make me something?"

The woman raised an eyebrow at the girl, then burst into laughter. Bright, clear, joyous laughter. Shae slowly settled down, understanding that the laugh was directed at her question, but it was so bright and joyful she didn't feel like she was being mocked.

"Oh, my! That was quite the surprise. No, dear. While you are an interesting canvas, you have years, probably decades ahead of you before you should even think about becoming one of my art pieces."

"Ehh, decades?"

"Yes, for a few reasons. Firstly, as you just pointed out, you are too young. I'm looking for mountain lions, not street kittens, no offense. Second, you need to get to core stage, at least, and make a name for yourself. No one who is no one wears my artwork. Yes, I am that skilled and important. Thirdly, and most important, you need to decide if that cleansing accident is something you want to fix or not."

"Ah... I suppose I was expecting to."

"Right, right. Most would. But you could embrace it, maybe add to it, like with the tattoo you also bear, humans are living canvases, we grow and change, and so should our artwork. Decide how you want to present yourself. Are you a perfect spring orchid? An ancient cherry blossom tree? Maybe a flag pole, standing proud?"

"Ehh? Flag pole?" Her mind flashed through what that metaphor could mean until she remembered the woman didn't mean a 15 meter steel pole, but rather a May-pole. "Oh! Like a festival pole, with all the ropes and ribbons?" She looked at Jani.

"Maybe! These are just ideas, what they are, what they mean to you, can easily change, just as you will change in time."

"Just ideas... that can change..." The girl repeated while staring into the mirrors around her.

"Most will interpret them differently. Think about what you want, and not just what will get you back through my door. Ah... Now, I'll excuse myself, Miss Shae."

The girl had already stopped listening. Her thoughts dragged her into a spiral of intuition and inferences. As the woman walked out of the room a neuron fired in the girl's brain and she managed, "Mhm, thanks Jani." When the door closed her mind made one final leap across a vast chasm of intuition and she gasped loudly as golden light flooded the room.

Brief Aside: Jani

Jani stepped out of the room to find Yun waiting beside a small folding table with a single teacup and teapot on it.

"Thank you for waiting outside, Fairy Yun."

"Of course, Fairy Jani. The Vans send their regards with this special blend." She lifted the teapot, powered it with her qi, swirled it in a circle twice, then carefully poured half a serving into the ornate jade teacup. The tea and cup vibrated slightly as their respective qi reacted with each other.

"Ahh, you really do know how to get the good stuff out of the old man, Yun."

Yun bowed to the woman as she offered the tea. "My deepest-"

"You're forgiven, dear."

"Senior?"

"You brought me an interesting one, I can forgive a slip of the tongue easily if the work is also easy."

"You like the girl?"

"Like is such a strong word in this line of business." Jani smirked from behind her teacup.

Shae's enlightenment had started from the simple topic they were discussing: the individual's interpretation of ideas.

How one interpreted anything was wholly up to them, bent and twisted through their own mind, through their worldview, and even their understanding of language.

She thought back to her short internal struggle at the geyser. Spite is what I called it, but it might not be what the chef thought it was, and it certainly wasn't what the plant thought it was. Plants don't have language, or even human emotion. So, spite would be an impossible concept for it to form so perfectly.

It could have been almost anything to the plant, just a bit of anger and vengeance, but not those words or ideas. A bit of hatred for whatever planned to eat it in the future. Then the chef took that Dao and sculpted it with their cooking tools and other ingredients. Changed it into a more recognizable shape, maybe their goal was something else, like vengeance. I was the one who saw it as spite, not them.

Equally, I have viewed heaven's lightning as judgment and wrath, and those too are my interpretations. They are filtered through my expectations, what I think the heavens embody, but are not necessarily what they actually are.

When first cultivating, I easily sculpted fire into other concepts, not just heat and warmth, but comfort and a sense of home like a fireplace. Broad and distant from fire itself. I was focused on how I wanted to work wrath into my demigod qi, but there's no reason for that, it doesn't need to be wrath or judgment or the warning of that first strike.

The enlightenment qi tingled around her as it built up and she paused her train of thought to draw on it. It moved slowly, and she pulled qi from her Dantian to create that ritual vortex she and the monks had used in Minlin City. The golden qi swirled around her but didn't rush into her.

Right, I'm not even meditating.

She dropped to the floor and reflexively crossed her legs into the lotus pose. A single deep breath and she was under. The golden qi calmed her and pushed her into meditation.

Her thoughts drifted as she exhaled, clearing and slowing. The rush of implications and ideas for application seemed less important now that she had something to do. She inhaled and pulled at the qi, drawing it into her channels and sending it along to swirl into her eagerly flowing demigod qi.

With each breath she drew more in, and when she felt her channels straining, she forced it all into her Dantian. She separated the enlightenment qi into its own cloud within her private little world. Her large swarm of demigod qi swirled and churned as it converted to personal qi faster, neutral qi mixing throughout and also converting into demigod qi. She wasn't even using the enlightenment qi. Or am I? She considered, I am circulating it, maybe that is enough?

Have I ignored what happens in here while I cultivate and circulate qi? She scolded herself for the oversight. Now isn't really the time to test it, but let's assume it helps, and maybe some of the qi is being used, not like I can track it all.

I'm forgetting something... the enlightenment, I need to do something with it... right? She did the mental equivalent of squirming uncomfortably. Last time it just happened, I just did stuff... stuff that Kwan said was way above me and completely unnecessary. And now I was thinking about interpretations, and what to do with my qi. Do I need to do something? Embrace some path for my qi?

Shae opened up her feelings, trying to sense anything from the enlightenment. Opportunity is there, just as it was before, but that is also an interpretation, isn't it? She felt another burst of something, approval. Her mind's eye went wide, enlightenment is approval from the heavens! Of course, it's not just fulfilling an opportunity, it's a reward for realization and understanding. The opportunity is secondary.

She felt the qi swell in response and she smiled and pulled down on it harder, quickly swirling more of her personal qi out to her furthest channels then back into her Dantian. She stopped focusing on drawing in and circulating as being separate. Instead as she inhaled she drew in the golden qi and drew out her own to fill her channels with both. Then exhaling she spun it all back down into her Dantian. Her personal qi and the demigod qi rushed freely and dragged at all the qi around it, greedily pulling the enlightenment qi along.

The rhythm was simple and she was able to free up focus to return to her speculation. So, the question still is: what do I want to interpret divine qi as? What is my own vision of heaven? She breathed out. And do I want to be that, embody that with my path?

"Who dressed me this time?" Shae asked just after exiting meditation. Her enlightenment had ended a short time ago, but she kept meditating to clean up the last scraps of qi that were floating around.

"Fairy Jani insisted on it because some of the folds and wraps are challenging to place perfectly." Yun replied while mimicking the other woman.

"Ah, well, not the first time and probably not the last. The robes are quite beautiful." She said absently as she admired her reflection.

"And she did wait for your enlightenment to end, and sends her congratulations, Wise Shae. From myself as well, it was an impressive display considering your stage."

"Oh! Thank you. Hmm, I suppose that makes sense. You mean some enlightenments are stronger than others?"

"Not just that. That was stronger than we would expect from one so new to cultivation. The way you interacted with it was also impressive. Most new cultivators cannot absorb so much and so efficiently."

"Ah, I had some help with that. In Minlin City, I joined the monks in their ritual assistance of their fellows' enlightenment."

"Wait, that was you!" Yun gawked at the girl. "You're the heavenly child?"

"I am Heavenly Shae, don't forget the name if you are going to repeat the rumors." She raised her chin.

"Ah, well.. I'm-" She began a bow but was interrupted.

"Calm down, Fairy Yun. That was a joke. I'm just a girl, not some heaven-blessed child."

"Hmm, well what I've seen today might suggest otherwise. Did you really deny enlightenments to the sect? Is that why Master Long is apologizing?"

"What? Is that what the rumors say?" She shook her head. "Nothing of the sort. We had a little argument before that. Which, to be fair, was mostly me being childish. Then the two enlightenments happened by coincidence while discussing broken Dao with Staff Sergeant Xiang."

Yun paused before her reaction, "Just two? The rumors said three, then five more among the monks, including your own."

"Ugh." Shae stuck out her tongue. "Rumors are so corrupting. How did all of that get here so fast, and so wrong?" She turned and saw the sun was low through a sky light, giving the room some natural lightning. "Oh, it's quite late, how long did that take? Oh, it doesn't matter."

"We should head back soon."

"Then I'll properly explain what happened on the way back, so you can set the rumors straight."

Yun nodded and led the girl out of Jani's shop.